Laughter Is Good Medicine
My teenage granddaughter told her 2 1/2 year old sister, Kenzie, to stay inside while she went outside to spray dirt off her feet. Kenzie decided to go out anyway and was inadvertently sprayed by the hose. Deciding to tattle, Kenzie went inside to her momma and slapping her leg in total indignation said, “You know what Dani did to me?” And continuing without waiting for an answer said, “she sprayed me with the hose and got me soaked. That was a very bad girl!”
For a two-year-old having that thought process is indeed comical. But she makes the point that sometimes in a bad situation, (she had misbehaved after all) the best option is to make it a laughing matter!
Convoluted Conversations
My husband has hearing loss and in the spring during peak allergy season my sinus issues impacts both my ears, causing me to have some degree of hearing loss, as well. That can get comical since during a conversation we neither hear well and then process what we are hearing incorrectly. Oh my! There have been some interesting, convoluted conversations that have left our children in stitches! This is another case of making a bad situation, a laughing matter. (And yes, it can be bad if what you ‘heard’ was somehow insulting and totally taken wrong.)
Our children were notorious for teasing each other. We see our grandchildren do it too. Usually it’s all in fun, and laughter rules; and that’s a good thing. It’s been proven over and over that laughter is good medicine! It is a great stress reliever!
I remember our family traveling, with five young ones. When things were going badly, whether the weather had become ugly, we needed fuel and no service stations were handy or one or more of the children were having a bad day, our one daughter would invariably, at some point, make some comment that had all her siblings, along with both her dad and I, in belly roll laughter!
Laughter Can Take The Sting Away
As a young person I was dubbed ‘shorty’ by some of my peers—and family members. I’d laugh, even though I loathed the name. But laughter somehow took the sting away. I knew I was short, but somehow it felt like a jab at the person I was—or wanted to be. In the same manner, children who are overweight, sometimes get dubbed ‘fatty’. I recall in school the victim would laugh at the name calling. Again, it took away the sting and made it look like he didn’t care. Regardless of the small giggle, and makeshift acceptance, it’s unkind to continually poke fun at someone because of something you consider ‘faulty’ or ‘distorted’ or something less than perfect.
It’s interesting that often when we are around someone who is disabled, we tend to be more cautious of what we say, perhaps with just a touch of formality. I contend while we’d never want to deliberately hurt anyone’s feelings we need to remember they need laughter too. When the conversation is between friends, the dialogue will often include just a bit of bantering and that’s good!
Sometimes they will initiate it by making a comment of their own. They may say something about their disability in self-deprecation and then giggle. Their struggle is real and while they don’t necessarily want someone poking fun at them, they recognize that life is easier when you don’t take yourself so serious, that everyone else is uncomfortable.
Keeping things light and ‘friendly’, knowing that we all need some laughter is in good taste, if you have a friendship bond with those around you, whether disabled or non-disabled. Teasing or bantering in fun is wonderful and eases stress. It is important however, to not repeat the same ‘jab’ so often it becomes hurtful and rude.
Laughter! It’s good for our spirit, decreases stress and even has physical benefits!
Photo Credit: https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/spraying-garden-hose.html
Photo Credit: https://www.google.com/search?q=free+pics+hard+of+hearing&tbm